Deliver Us From Evil, Part 16

 

June 14, 2019

 

Today, let’s touch on an evil that has beset our generation, and has plagued both our nation and the body of Christ pretty much since shortly after the turn of the 20th Century.  With Georgia and Alabama leading the way in the news lately with their efforts to pass legislation essentially blocking all kinds of abortion, no matter the circumstance, and no matter the timing in a woman’s pregnancy, as well as the controversy surrounding the Virgina governor’s statement saying that it was OK to allow a child to come to full birth, then keep it alive, until a decision was made to kill it, the controversy surrounding abortion has taken center stage.

 

Let’s tackle this subject today from a Scriptural standpoint.

 

Della and I were having a discussion with some close friends one day and Della was sharing how the Lord gave her a real revelation of something she has seen in a natural realm.  I'm going to try and break this down as near as possible to what the Lord showed her, and add those things that the Holy Spirit has continued to grow in my own understanding since.

 

We all know how much our society today has been infiltrated and contaminated with the arrogance of the myth of "a woman's right to choose."  It permeates our media.  It fills the airwaves.  It underlies some of the popular music of the day.  The "abortion rights" movement has become so vocal in our culture that fear-ruled Christian leaders and politicians do a dance with political correctness in their speeches and sermons in order to avoid head-to-head confrontations.

 

Abortion, however, is rooted deeply in humanism and the very character of Satan.  Christians have been plagued with a Spirit of Abortion unknowingly.  It has been so much a part of the sin nature that until it is revealed and dealt with, many believers wage war within themselves, often mis-identifying a very specific evil spirit as just a part of their "flesh."

 

Let's take this back to its very beginning.

 

Take a look at Genesis 3: "Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?  And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.  And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.  And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat."

 

Ever notice something about this episode?  How the temptation of the serpent specifically appealed to what pleased Eve?  How the temptation was designed to get at Eve's "ME, ME" desires?

 

Let's break this down.  What is Satan really saying to Eve?

 

“God isn't really interested in YOU, personally.  What are YOU getting out of this deal, anyway?  He's just created a rule or a command that will keep YOU from actually being like Him.  He doesn't want you to be like Him because then He wouldn't have any more power over you.  You'd be just as powerful as He is.  See?  All you have to do is eat of this fruit.  Enjoy its pleasures.  Enjoy the taste!  Lady, this fruit not only looks good, it tastes good!  See what YOU are missing?  All YOU have to do is eat of this and YOU will be as wise as God.”

 

And, brother, did Eve ever fall for his line!  You see what made Satan's hogwash so appealing?  His argument appealed to her senses.  It appealed to her desires.  It appealed to her sensitivities.  It appealed to her SELF and her Self-image.  Satan's arguments were specifically ordered in such a way that Eve's person, her personal desires and priorities became THE priority -- NOT God's, and certainly not Adam's.

 

What was Eve going to get out of this command from God that "ye shall not eat of [the tree of the knowledge of good and evil]; neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die"?  How was God's command going to bring any pleasure to her?

 

By the way, Eve added to God's command here.  God DID NOT say, "neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die."  What God had said was -- very simply -- "But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die."

 

By now, you're getting the picture, I'm sure.

 

Satan was appealing to something in Eve that had never been appealed to before: SELF.  Everything about God's creation, everything about the creation of Man, was created to satisfy love -- agape love.  Adam and Eve had been created for love -- God's love.  They had been created IN love.  They had been created for God's pleasure, and in bringing Him pleasure and fulfillment, they would have the ultimate fulfillment themselves.  SELF was not the priority.  SELF would receive complete fulfillment in God.

 

Satan's trick was to separate SELF from God and from relationship with Him, making it a separate identity of its own.  In so doing, he was able to make Eve focus on her own needs and desires in such a way that she began to consider them separately and apart from God, from Adam, and from her first priorities in life.

 

When Eve responded to the lying and deceptive trick of Satan, SELF-ishness was incorporated into the human genome for the first time.  And because the deception came through the woman, it birthed the myth of "a woman's right to choose."  Get the picture?  That's how old this thing is!

 

Thus, a woman suddenly had the "right" to make decisions independently of God, independently of her husband and/or independently of the laws or commands of God.  Or so she thought.

 

What was missing from this so-called "right" was the other side of the equation.  What came with the "right" was death and destruction to herself.  What came with the "right" was pain and suffering so unimaginable that had Eve been able to foresee the consequences of her "choice," she would have run as far as possible to escape even the sound of the serpent's voice.

 

But the cat was out of the bag, so to speak.  Once the "choice" was made, and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit; and then handed it to Adam to eat -- the communication-link in the realm of the Spirit was broken.  The rest of it is history.

 

We have no further evidence in Scripture following Adam and Eve's forced departure from the Garden that they ever again had face-to-face communication with the Lord.  Forced to stand on their own, they were also forced to become self-sufficient.  They had to work for a living instead of simply tending to God's Creation in an environment of love.

 

With their eviction from the Garden also came the fear of the unknown.  Their disobedience to God brought the Fear of Evil, the Fear of Man, and the Fear of Death into the human frame, the human genetic structure, and -- in every individual born into the human race from that point forward -- the genesis of fear, which is the polar opposite of faith and love.

 

In a fear-based existence, those who found within themselves the ability to overcome their environment, their natural enemies, and their brethren also found an arrogance.  In that arrogance was "Me first."  "What I want" and "what I wish for" became paramount.  It didn't take long for "Me first" to exhibit its arrogance in Cain's anger over God's rejection of his sacrifice.

 

“Well, if God is going to accept Abel's sacrifice over mine, we can fix that!  All I have to do is get rid of Abel, and then God will have to accept my sacrifice!”

 

And fear, arrogance and selfishness begat murder.

 

You see now, don't you, the progression?  Satan made the woman the target of his lies and deception.  He made her the target of his own arrogance and fear; and when she fell prey to his wiles, all those things inherent in the families of fear (whom Satan fathered) began to target first the female species.

 

And why not?  Think about it logically, for a minute.  If Satan can turn a woman, he's got the man.

 

Anybody who thinks the woman is the weaker sex is just plain nuts!  The Scripture does not say that she is, incidentally.  When you read the Greek text of I Peter 3:7, it more properly renders like this,

 

"Husbands, dwell with your wives according to knowledge, treating them and ministering to their needs, honoring them as though they were the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life....."

 

But that's a topic I don't want to get off on today because it sidetracks the issue.

We could take another side-trip today, as well, on the history of child-murder throughout history, and especially as it occurred with the demonic worship of false gods -- Baal-worship most notably.  I won't take that trip other than to note once again (as I have in the past) that the use of children as suicide bombers by the Islamic terrorists is a natural extension of their worship of Allah (who is none other than Baal).

 

Let's cut to the chase.

 

The sacrifice of children -- whether it was to Molech (see Deuteronomy 12:31, 32:17) or to any of the gods of the nations that occupied Canaan (see also Leviticus 18:21, 20:2-5) -- was commonplace among the nations God commanded Israel to destroy and wipe off the face of the earth.  Israel's failure to keep God's command, and their compromise with those nations allowed the spirit to survive in the earth that drove and compelled the sacrifice of children for one's own expediency.

 

And that is the key to understanding what drives abortion.  Society has euphemistically referred to it in nice, conveniently sanitized terms, such as "the right to choose," or "a woman's right over her own body," but the hard, cold truth is that it is nothing less than murder for convenience' sake.

 

The unborn child is an inconvenience.  Brother!  The excuses are multitudinous.

 

The unborn child is the product of rape.  The unborn child will most likely come into the world deformed, or with severe birth defects; and that would be cruel and inhumane.  I can't afford another child.

 

On and on it goes.

 

The bottom line is that the woman who makes such an excuse (or the guy responsible for the pregnancy in the first place) is fearful, is selfish, is arrogant, and couldn't give a rip about what God has to say in the matter.  God's Word gets last place in any argument.  Want to know how strongly God felt against the murder of children?

 

Then take a look at Leviticus 20:2-5.  Not only does God set His face against those who commit this kind of murder, he pronounces strong judgment against those who stand by, do nothing and allow it to happen.

 

There's a unique phrase that occurs in the Hebrew text of Leviticus 20:5.  Our English translations put it, "to commit whoredom with Molech."  It's pretty strong when you read it in Hebrew, and one can easily render it, "to engage in agreement and intercourse with those who worship Molech (with the plan to abort or murder the offspring as part of the ritual)."

 

God makes it abundantly clear that He sets His face (His plan and purpose for life, for abundance and for prosperity) against not only the one who commits such child-murder, but against the future generations of those who commit such atrocities, even to the cutting off of their seed forever.

 

Tragically, many Christian women live under the condemnation of the Enemy because of past abortions, or because of previous generations of family who have had abortions.  There is a blood-guilt that comes with abortion unlike any other sense of guilt with any other sin.  It is spiritual, and it is demonic.

 

Were I to leave this discussion at this point, it would leave many women stuck with their condemnation and guilt-ridden.  However, the Lord foresaw the consequences of this and made a way of deliverance from that spirit.  That's where we will take this discussion next week.

 

In case you are missing out on real fellowship in an environment of Ekklesia, our Sunday worship gatherings are available by conference call – usually at about 10:30AM Pacific.  That conference number is (712) 770-4160, and the access code is 308640#.  We are now making these gatherings available on video using ZOOM.  If you wish to participate by video on ZOOM, our login ID is 835-926-513.  If you miss the live voice-only call, you can dial (712) 770-4169, enter the same access code and listen in later.  The video call, of course, is not recorded – not yet, anyway.

Blessings on you!

 

           

Regner A. Capener
CAPENER MINISTRIES

RIVER WORSHIP CENTER
Temple, Texas 76504

Email Contact: CapenerMinistries@protonmail.com

 

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